President Aleksandar Vucic told The Jerusalem Post that Serbia intends to buy weapons from Israel.

“In a response to questions about the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign in Western Europe targeting Israel, Vucic said the Serbian purchase of weapons from Israel will not be a small delivery,” the daily said.

It quoted Vucic as saying that Serbia is “not a fertile ground for anti-semitic messages” and that BDS is non-existent in Serbia. “No one has heard of the boycott movement in Serbia,” he said. Vucic is also quoted as saying that Serbia “will always to do our best to align our interests with Israel.”  

The Jerusalem Post said that Serbia was the first country that passed legislation permitting restitution of unclaimed Jewish property seized during the Holocaust. It recalled that Vucic’s “paternal grandfather was murdered by the Nazi-supported Croatian fascist Ustashe during World War II, expelled his family and they resettled near Belgrade”.  

“Vucic is well-versed in the dangers of lethal antisemitism and fascism, as well, and he energetically advocated for a memorial for the Staro Sajmiste concentration camp in Belgrade, where the Serbs, Jews and Roma were murdered during Hitler Germany’s occupation of the Balkan country,” the daily said and added that he initiated a remembrance day for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust in January.  

“Jews fought neck and neck with the Serbian people” against the fascists and Nazis in WWII, Vucic told the daily.